Where Manny Rutinel and Shannon Bird stand on the issues in Colorado’s 8th Congressional District primary

“I think we need to bring back Medicaid, we need to bring back the Affordable Care Act credits so that folks have the option to be able to get great insurance at an affordable price,” Rutinel said, citing the Trump administration’s cuts to these programs. “And I think we should explore other options, like the public option, to be able to make sure that we have the lowest cost possible and affordable healthcare for everyone across the country.”

“As a matter of first importance, restoring the Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies so that we can start making health insurance more affordable for people,” Bird said. “Broadly speaking, I’d love to explore a public option. I think that’s a very valuable place to start making sure that we are holding big insurance companies accountable for creating barriers to care. We need a healthcare system that brings that focus back to the patient and the doctor. We need to expand Medicare, importantly, to include vision, dental, and hearing as well.”

“Yes,” he said. “No family should have to choose between life-saving medical drugs or paying for rent or putting food on the table. That is the bare minimum in the richest nation in the world, and so I think we need to explore which drugs are essential for folks so that we can save costs for families across this district.”

Bird co-sponsored a 2021 bill to cap the price of insulin in Colorado. “I also want to increase the country’s ability to negotiate through Medicare and expand the number of drugs that we can use our negotiating power as a federal government to work on those prices as well,” she said.

“We should absolutely raise the federal minimum wage,” he said. “I think it should be at least $15 an hour, but I think localities should go further where relevant to take into account the cost of living in their area.”

Yes, to $15 an hour, she said.

“When I get to Congress, I will make it a priority to make sure that we lower childcare costs by providing the funding that Colorado needs and other states need when they’re trying to implement these programs,” he said. “That includes just providing an influx of resources by making sure that we are taxing the wealthy appropriately, so that working families have the ability to pay for childcare and do the things that they need to do to be able to provide for their family in other ways.”

“We need a federal government that is a better, stronger partner in this regard,” she said. “We need to begin with restoring (the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program), making sure that we’ve got that funding as well. Head Start needs more funding, and we overall need additional federal subsidies, so that people can go to work and know that their kids are being cared for in facilities that are well maintained with well trained teachers and caregivers.”

“I think that for families under a certain threshold that it should be free for them, and that wealthier families can afford childcare, typically,” he said. “I think the wealthy need to be paying their fair share. That will allow us to fund so many of the programs that are essential for working families.”

“I don’t know that completely free childcare is something that’s within the means of the country right now, but we definitely need the federal government to play its part and make this something that is affordable and expand on the really important programs that we already have in place that are helping our most vulnerable, as I said, the CCAP program and Head Start,” she said.

“I want my focus to be on making sure that our energy system uses an all of the above approach, while making sure that we are holding bad actors and polluters accountable,” he said. “Making sure that whatever energy we have is reliable, affordable and safe.”

“No,” she said. “I support an all of the above energy policy. So we need to be focused on making sure that whatever energy we are using, that it’s developed and transmitted in a safe, sustainable way that always maintains affordability for the people in our state.”

“Yes,” he said.

“Yes, I would,” she said. “I support a federal moratorium on drilling. We need to protect Colorado’s public lands and across the country, while ensuring that America produces reliable, affordable energy. Colorado’s eighth district is a major oil producer, and we can do both. We can produce energy while leaving our public lands free for all people to enjoy.”

“Part of the transportation point is making sure that our broad energy system is affordable, safe and abundant, and I think you know, wherever possible, we need to make sure that we’re investing in the transportation systems of the future, and that may mean streamlining permitting for electric vehicle charging stations, and making sure that we’re not putting in unnecessary regulation against battery-powered cars,” he said.

“We need additional federal investment in transit and mass transit, making sure that we are doing things that give people options to get out of their cars,” she said. “This is something that is particularly important in Colorado. We need a good partner in the federal government to make sure that we can be investing in passenger rail or commuter rail and scaling up access to buses as well.”

“We need to hold Trump accountable and make sure that we, in our immigration system, aren’t terrorizing Latino families just because of their skin color or accent, like my mom, but are instead focusing our energy on the violent criminals,” he said. “Not the folks that are paying their taxes and trying to make a living for themselves and for their families.”

Bird said immigration policy needs to secure the border, prevent human trafficking, weapons trafficking and drug trafficking. “The reform needs to include protections for DACA recipients and a pathway to citizenship for people who want to come to this country to work and contribute to our communities,” she said. “Our asylum system also needs to be reformed so that people with legitimate claims can have their cases heard in a timely fashion, and to make sure that the system can’t be defrauded.”

He said, “It’s legislation, and of course, there’s also direct accountability. That means using every single power that a member of Congress has to be able to subpoena Trump’s enablers that are terrorizing Latino families across this district and across the country, and making sure that we are holding the line when Trump’s enablers try to fund to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars the terrorizing of Latino families like mine.”

“We need to make sure that here in Colorado we have the ability to go in and examine what’s happening in these detention centers and to hold ICE and the federal government accountable when we are not meeting the needs of the people in these detention centers,” she said.

“We need immediate, quick action to curb the brutality of Trump’s ICE, and we need to put in place common sense measures like requiring judicial warrants, requiring ICE officials to wear identification,” he said.

“We need to overhaul ICE, a complete overhaul, and that begins with banning face masks, mandating body cameras, and making sure on a national basis that ICE enforcement activities are not taking place in public schools, hospitals, churches, or courthouses, just like we’ve done here in Colorado, and it also means making sure that when ICE agents break the law, they are held fully accountable,” she said.

Rutinel said he would streamline the housing permitting processes and reverse President Trump’s tariffs.

Bird said she would expand the low-income housing tax credit and to make sure that private equity firms don’t have advantages in the single family home market. “We need a level playing field and to make sure that big money interests aren’t driving up costs, whether it’s rent or the cost to purchase a home,” she said.

“The big ugly bill is terrible for so many working families, I think what we saw was a transfer away from working families that were using and needing Medicaid and the Affordable Care credits, and that was done to give tax breaks to Trump’s billionaire buddies and Gabe Evans’ billionaire donors,” he said. “What we need to do is we make a tax system that makes it so that the wealthy pay their fair share, so that we can have important programs like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and fully funded schools, and that’s what I will be focusing on when I’m in Congress.”

“No, I would not,” she said. “I think that those tax cuts unfairly advantaged people who didn’t need them, billionaires and corporations specifically.”

“I think that if folks are working hard towards working for the public in these public interest jobs, that they should have a reliable payment plan, so that they can have relief after working in the public for an extended period,” he said.

Bird wants to expand loan forgiveness programs for people who work in public service. She also wants to make trade school and community college more affordable.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I think we need to be doing a lot more to root out corruption in our politics.”

“Yes,” she said.

“Yes,” he said.

“Yes,” she said.

Yes, Rutinel said he supports continued U.S. military funding for Israel. “I think that we need to make sure that we’re pursuing peace and allowing the U.S. to play a role in that, so that we promote stability and de-escalation, and I think we need secure borders and a two-state solution,” he said.

“I am not a member of Congress, and I’m not sure what Israel’s specific needs are as to additional aid,” she said. “Broadly, I believe we need to honor our agreements with our allies and to follow U.S. law when doing so, and making sure that civilians, both Israelis and Palestinians, are not put in harm’s way.”

“My heart goes out to all the members of our military who are involved in that conflict, many of which have lost their lives, and I think that it’s a disaster that Trump has drawn the United States into another forever war without any plans, and they’re putting Americans at risk and raising prices on all of us,” he said.

“I think we can all agree that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon,” she said. “That being said, Donald Trump is the least trustworthy president we have ever had, and I don’t trust his leadership. He’s unilaterally committed our country to another forever war in the Middle East with no exit strategy. Thirteen Americans have already lost their lives, and thus far we’ve only succeeded in replacing one dictator with another who’s even more radical, and today and every day I’m hearing constituents that are talking about their costs continuing to rise. We need to bring our troops back home and get back to work with our allies to end the conflict, restore peace to the global community, and restore normal trade relationships.”

“I think we need to make sure that we have good safeguards in place, so that we are not destroying our public safety or our environment in the process of developing data centers, and that means making sure that we protect our public lands, our waters, and that the development of data centers doesn’t increase prices for ratepayers,” he said.

“They are already in our state, and we need to make sure that they don’t drive up our energy costs,” she said. “They need to build their own energy infrastructure. Data centers can’t take our limited water supplies either. They must be constructed with a closed loop system that allows Colorado to protect our very crucial limited water resources. And when data centers are built, the communities that would be impacted must have input.”

Rutinel was a lead sponsor of the first-in-the-nation Colorado law to regulate artificial intelligence in 2024. “I have passed laws and co-sponsored laws that make sure that we protect Colorado’s consumers and workers, while creating a reasonable floor that all businesses have to abide by, so it’s good for the business environment, because it means that nobody’s undercutting another business who’s doing the right thing while protecting Colorado’s consumers and workers,” he said. “Those are the types of things that I would be looking towards when I’m in Congress.”

“AI has the potential to be an incredible force for human advancement,” she said. “It can help us fight disease and create important efficiencies, but we must make sure that it’s not allowed to hurt kids, violate our privacy, or jeopardize our jobs. America needs to be the leader in this innovation. It’s a powerful tool, and if developed here in America, we can make sure that it’s a force for good.”